General Motors UAW locals prepare for ratification votes on new contract

Lonnie Timmons III/The Plain DealerWorkers at General Motors' Lordstown plant give a final inspection to the Chevrolet Cruze in this 2010 file photo. Some workers at Lordstown will vote Saturday on a new tentative contract between the automaker and the United Auto Workers.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With a tentative agreement worked out between General Motors and the United Auto Workers, the next step will be getting workers to agree to the new terms.

Tuesday in Detroit, leaders from UAW locals throughout the country will hear more details on the deal.

"We're going to have informational meetings for our members coming up, probably this Sunday," Graham said. A ratification vote on the contract could follow as soon as early next week.

UAW Local 1714, the union that represents workers at the metal center adjacent to the Lordstown assembly plant, plans to hold information sessions and ratification votes on Saturday.

"We'll go ahead and do both at the same time," UAW Local 1714 President Dave Green said. He added that workers "will hear what they need to hear, then they'll decide."

Green said he hasn't heard many specifics on the contract yet, but he considered it more positive than the last four-year deal reached in 2007 because this one does not include plant closures.

Steve "Fram" Frammartino, president of the UAW Local 1005 in Parma, said he will also hold a series of information sessions with workers, but he hasn't yet set a date for those.

Workers in Parma will also hear details on a new local agreement that was also reached late last week. National UAW contracts set terms such as wages and health care benefits. Local agreements cover issues such as shift schedules, vacation days and cafeteria service at the plant.

This year's talks have been significantly less controversial than the 2007 negotiations. That year, the union agreed to lower pay for entry level workers and to let the companies push their retiree healthcare burdens to the union. Also that year, workers at both GM and Chrysler briefly went on strike. Ford workers agreed to terms without a strike.

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